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Across Asia, the number of people aged 65 and above is going to grow dramatically over the next 50 years. The population in this age group is expected to increase by 314%, from 207 million in 2000 to 857 million in 2050.

Scientific and medical advances in the world mean that people are growing older and older, which puts a lot of financial pressure on governments, as healthcare spending per capita can be over four times higher for people aged 65 and older.

How much insurance cover you need depends upon a number of factors. These include your expected income over your lifetime, debts and future expenses.

There are standards for calculating the perfect cover amount, such as 7 to 10 times your annual salary. You shouldn’t follow any of these rules of thumb, as the amount of cover you need is specific to you.

However, you can quickly figure out a more individual and precise calculation for your own situation.

When buying life insurance you should be able to separate the fact from the fiction in order to get the best cover for you.

Life insurance is too expensive

FICTION: There are different amounts of cover and policies available now, covering a wide range of situations. If you can’t afford whole of life coverage at the moment, you can get term insurance, which is cheaper.

You may be fit and healthy now but did you know that you are five times more likely to suffer from a disease such as heart disease, cancer, or stroke, than to die before you retire? Figures from the Hong Kong Cancer Registry Hospital Authority show that 25% of men and 20% of women will develop cancer before they reach 70 years of age. According to global re-insurer Swiss Re, the average age for someone making an insurance claim due to cancer is just 43.7 years old.

Does your company insurance scheme offer you enough life cover? Most people in Hong Kong have life insurance cover provided by their company, usually as multiple of their basic salary. It is usually three or four times your basic salary, but is this really enough to protect & provide for you and your family should the worst happen? Whilst it is convenient to rely on the life insurance your employer offers you, it can be a bad idea. Here are four reasons why:

Did you know that in Hong Kong insurance cover with many of the major banks can cost up to 33% more than if you go direct to an Insurance company? What you may not know is that you have the option to cancel your existing term cover at any time you like and start a new policy going direct to a provider, saving money and getting better value.

We did some research to illustrate how much you can save and without trying very hard at all we came up with the following example:

There are many insurance options available today and choosing the right one for your needs can feel like an overwhelming task. Make a poor choice and you could end up paying much more than you need to and not getting the cover you need. To learn our seven recommended ways to compare life insurance please click here…

Insurance is the foundation to financial security and essential to all good financial planning strategies. It is designed to protect a person and the family from disasters and financial burdens. However, most people have no insurance or are under insured, preferring to believe that they are too young, too healthy and that nothing will happen to them. They see insurance as an unnecessary expense that they might never see benefit of and prefer to spend the money on something that provides them instant gratification.

Critical Illness Insurance pays a cash lump sum when the insured person is diagnosed with a disease which has been predetermined in the Critical Illness insurance policy. The proceeds from these policies allow people to pay for the extra treatments which may not be covered by their health insurance policy or to pay for their family’s expenses, should they be forced to stop working